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Breaking the 'business model' of people smuggling

James GlendayUpdated
Mon 13 May 2013, 9:12 AM AEST

In tomorrow's federal budget some of the big cost blow-outs are likely to be in immigration, as asylum seeker boats continue to arrive in record numbers. Both sides of politics are promising to solve the problem by smashing the 'business model' of people smuggling but the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is just one international organisation that believes Australia won't be able to completely stop the boats.

Transcript

TONY EASTLEY: As Australia sets aside more money to pay for the processing of asylum seekers, the Australian Federal police and the Indonesia National Police say they've caught up with a notorious people smuggler.

Javaid Mahmud Butt, also know as Hasan Billu, is an alleged people smuggler wanted in connection with an asylum seeker boat which sank last year with an estimated 90 people onboard.

In Australia both sides of politics are promising to solve the problem by smashing the people smuggling "business model", but the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime believes Australia won't be able to completely stop the boats.

From Canberra, James Glenday reports.

JAMES GLENDAY: Most asylum seekers pay people smugglers between $7,000 and $20,000 to get to Australia. And about 25,000 have arrived in the past year and a half.

SEBASTIAN BAUMEISTER: It's very big business. I mean, if you would calculate this by an average of $14,000, you come up with a quite high amount.

JAMES GLENDAY: About $350 million in fact.

Sebastian Baumeister from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says people smuggling in the region is a high-profit, low-risk business that's adapted easily to recent changes in government policy.

SEBASTIAN BAUMEISTER: I don't believe that you can fully stop maritime boat arrivals coming from Indonesia to Australia. The challenge is to get the organisers, but the organisers are certainly in the countries of origin and transit and it's very difficult to get hold of them.

JAMES GLENDAY: He says the people smuggling business model will be very difficult to break. But it's a goal both sides of federal politics are committed to.

KHALID KOSER: If I were a politician in Australia my main focus would be on managing expectations

JAMES GLENDAY: Dr Khalid Koser from the Geneva Centre for Security Policy says people smuggling is a diverse business. A number of smugglers are part of organised crime networks, others set up small family operations, while some are humanitarians who just want to get people to safety.

KHALID KOSER: I think we have to recognise irregular migration and in your case boat arrivals will continue at some number. You might be able to manage the numbers, you might be able to reduce the numbers, but they will continue. And I think politicians should be honest about that and admit it.

JAMES GLENDAY: The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says the resumption of offshore processing last August, the upcoming federal election and impending withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan may have created a rush which has led to the recent big increases in boat arrivals, but it's difficult to be sure.

ANDREAS SCHLOENHARDT: There's few topics on which so much is written without knowing anything.

JAMES GLENDAY: Professor Andreas Schloenhardt from the Migrant Smuggling Working Group at the University of Queensland says Government departments need to release much more information about what they're doing to disrupt people smugglers.

ANDREA SCHLOENHARDT: We know a lot less about the problems than we did 10-15 years ago. There's a lot of big headlines and snazzy slogans that politicians come up with are not very helpful in this.

JAMES GLENDAY: Improving quality of life in source countries such as Afghanistan and Iran is considered the best long-term way of stopping people smuggling.

But in the meantime Caz Coleman from the Minister's Council on Asylum Seekers and Detention says Australians have to face up to some difficult decisions.

CAZ COLEMAN: I think we do need to think seriously about whether we need to accept there will be a higher rate of arrivals into Australia. How much can we manage that well? And also how do we receive them appropriately when they do get here?